In a village in Tanzania, for example, women are now making clay pots and growing vegetables to sell at market. The work is generating income, but within the community, it is viewed as an extension of... Show More + women’s domestic duties and not as a breadwinner role.Almost everywhere, the focus groups described men remaining the primary income earners and decision makers, and the allocation of free time, responsibilities, and power being unequally distributed. Nearly one-third of the groups said domestic violence was common and reinforced gender norms.“Norms are changing, but the change is slow and incremental, and its pace does not always keep up with economic opportunities and development. As a result, women, as well as men, get excluded from opportunities perceived as gender-inappropriate,” said Carrie Turk, a World Bank gender specialist and co-author of the report. "Development programs can help alleviate these constraints, since change needs to happen on all levels to take effect: on individual, household and community levels."Lessons for development“The development community needs to think about where it is financing gender-sensitive projects,” said study co-author Maria Beatriz Orlando, a social development specialist at the World Bank. “In the `90s, a lot of women’s development work focused on traditional gender roles – a lot of the projects were in crafts or in food. We have to question how much jam can be produced.”“While respecting culture, we can also challenge these norms for the benefit of both women and men,” added Ana Maria Munoz,a co-author of the report, also co-authored by Patti Petesch and Maria Angelica Thumala.Creating gender-neutral learning opportunities could also open more doors for future generations of both sexes, the authors write. Education and laws that help reduce domestic abuse can also increase empowerment and opportunities for women.Laws and regulations promoting gender equality can promote change, but they must be well publicized and enforced. The study found that outreach and public understanding were uneven among the focus groups, particularly in rural communities. “In none of the sample countries did we find either men or women to be really well-informed of their rights, entitlements, or obligations with respect to key laws intended to promote gender equality,” the authors write.The World Bank’s workIn its work, the World Bank assesses the gender dimensions of development within and across sectors in each country where it has active programs, and it uses Regional Gender Action Plans to lay out proposed directions to ensure that gender and inclusive development are better integrated into country and regional programming.Gender is also a special theme of the Bank’s $49.3 billion fund for the poorest, the International Development Association. Its Gender Action Plan, started in 2007, has boosted attention to innovative programs to promote women’s economic empowerment. And the Road Map for Gender Mainstreaming directs more of the Bank’s technical assistance, projects, and programs towards giving women better economic opportunities.The new focus group study adds to a body of knowledge that includes the World Development Report 2012 and suggests that when communities find ways to relax norms, men’s and women’s individual and collective sense of control over their futures can increase – and reinforce one another. Show Less -

In a videotaped address, Kyte encouraged participants to forge effective partnerships, empower poor rural women, and create opportunities for women in agriculture, not just as farmers but also as scientists... Show More + and policymakers. She highlighted a fellowship program in Africa that has been opening doors for female scientists for several years."When barriers come down - barriers that prevent women from fully contributing on the farm, in the lab, in their homes, and in government offices - everyone benefits: food security increases, poverty drops, children are better nourished, and environmental stewardship improves," Kyte said."Advancing gender equality is not only the right thing to do, it's the economically smart thing to do, and it's also necessary in order to unleash agriculture's full potential for improving lives in developing countries." Show Less -

Working with larger-scale farming systems is one of many tools to promote sustainable agricultural and rural development, and can directly support local communities and smallholder productivity – but this... Show More + must be done right. When undertaken with appropriate safeguards and inclusion of small holders and communities as beneficiaries, large agribusiness can bring development benefits through economies of scale, market discipline, and accountability to consumers. Production at scale has the potential to lower the price for essential food; improve productivity and efficiency in the use of fertilizers and water; and enable investments in innovation that may be too costly for small farmers to adopt.However, large-scale land acquisitions pose certain risks. The World Bank Group is especially concerned that large-scale land acquisitions do not disadvantage smallholder farmers, who depend on land for their livelihoods. The World Bank Group does not support speculative land investments or acquisitions which take advantage of weak institutions in developing countries or which disregard principles of responsible agricultural investment.Working to protect the rights of land users, smallholder farmersThe World Bank (IBRD and IDA) interacts primarily with governments to increase agricultural productivity, strengthen land tenure policies and improve land governance. More than 90% of the World Bank’s agriculture portfolio focuses on the productivity and access to markets by small holder farmers. Ten percent of our projects focus on the governance of land tenure.Similarly, investments by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank Group’s private sector arm, including those in larger scale enterprises, overwhelmingly support smallholder farmers through improved access to finance, inputs and markets, and as direct suppliers. IFC invests in environmentally and socially sustainable private enterprises in all parts of the value chain (inputs such as irrigation and fertilizers, primary production, processing, transport and storage, traders, and risk management facilities including weather/crop insurance, warehouse financing, etc.). IFC due diligence and Performance Standards, which address issues ranging from environmental and social impacts, to labor practices, to assuring future livelihoods for existing users, apply in all cases. IFC’s Performance Standards were recently strengthened to address many risks associated with land investments and are widely regarded as best industry practice.IFC investments made directly in the agricultural sector have already delivered substantial economic benefits, including helping provide jobs for 37,000 people, including 11,000 women, and reaching 4.2 million farmers (equivalent to 20 million people supported). In addition, IFC-invested companies are expected to source more than $4.6 billion of goods and services from local companies and contribute more than $287 million in tax revenues in FY12.Having a strong anchor organization or supply chain intermediary achieves a multiplier effect in adopting new practices, setting standards, and expanding market access. For example, IFC provided $74 million in loans and equity to Jain Irrigation, India’s producer and distributor of drip irrigation equipment. Jain Irrigation introduced drip irrigation to India’s agriculture and has grown to become the world’s second-largest player in the micro-irrigation industry. The use of Jain’s drip-irrigation technology, which allows water usage to be cut by 40 percent, has resulted in water savings equal to the annual water consumption of more than 10 million households. In addition, it has tailored its business model to include the poor—creating a supply chain of 25,000 small farmers, 90 percent of whom work with less than one hectare of land. The use of drip irrigation has also led to efficiency gains that have raised annual incomes for small farmers by up to $1,000.Working for policies that recognize all forms of land tenureThe World Bank supports and consistently recommends government policies that implement systematic land surveying and titling programs that recognize all forms of land tenure: public and private; formal and customary, including those of pastoralists or others with weak formal rights; collective and individual, including women’s’ rights; and rural and urban. At the same time, respect for customary and traditional land rights should be looked at dynamically, focusing on the shortcomings (e.g. women’s access to land) and striking a balance between what needs to be preserved and what needs to be changed.The World Bank has supported government’s efforts to strengthen land policies and administration systems in member countries for over four decades. Since 1990, the Bank has provided finance of US$2.7 billion to more than 60 land administration projects around the world. At the request of individual countries, we provide support through information and research, and by working with governments to implement sound policies.As of August 2012, we have 23 projects under implementation supporting improved governance of land tenure with IBRD/IDA commitments of US$ 964 million. There are 12 projects in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, 6 in Latin America and the Caribbean, 3 in East Asia and the Pacific, and one each in Sub-Saharan Africa and in South Asia. In addition, there are 23 projects which include a land tenure component (13 of which are in Sub-Saharan Africa). For example:For many years in Nicaragua, the lack of an institutional and legal framework made it difficult for indigenous and ethnic community groups to have their rights and natural resources formally recognized and their territories demarcated and titled. Under the Land Administration Project, the World Bank helped to demarcate, title, and register 1 million hectares of land in the country’s Atlantic coastal region, and prepare territorial management plans with participation of the indigenous and ethnic communities and their leaders and authorities to guide future development efforts.In Indonesia, the Bank supported post-tsunami recovery efforts in Aceh through rapid community mapping and land registration and titling, introducing the concept of joint titling and gender recording. A total of 222,628 land title certificates were distributed to land owners after the tsunami, out of which 63,181 were given to women either individually or as joint owners with their spouses.In Bolivia, the Bank helped update the 1952 land reform law, establish a new tenure regime for indigenous people, and modernize the land administration system. As a result, 2.8 million hectares of land were surveyed and titled – of these, 588,000 hectares were for indigenous peoples’ communal territories.Land governance – working to facilitate transparency and accountabilityIn addition, the Bank and several partners have developed the Land Governance Assessment Framework (LGAF), a diagnostic tool to assess the status of land governance at country level in a participatory process that draws on local expertise and existing evidence rather than on advice from outsiders. To date, LGAF assessments have been carried out or are under way in 13 countries (eight of which are in Africa).Helping women achieve equal treatment in obtaining land rightsWomen often have often difficulties in proving they own the land they work and live on. The lack of clear property rights denies them an opportunity to earn more for example by renting the property out or using it as collateral for loans. The Word Bank has helped women in Ethiopia, Honduras, Indonesia, Kosovo, Nicaragua, and Vietnam better understand their rights and secure clear land title to their properties, enabling them to get more out our their most important asset.As Tashegu Woretaw, an Ethiopian widow from Gola Kebele tells, “I was not really interested in putting any long-term investment in the land. After getting the certificate, I planted eucalyptus and also prepared part of it for grass for fattening small stocks and oxen.”Securing access to land for the poorSecuring access to land is critical for millions of poor people. Modern, efficient, and transparent land tenure policy is important in reducing poverty, and promoting growth and sustainable development. Security of property rights is central to preserving livelihoods, maintaining social stability, and increasing incentives for investment and for sustainable, productive land use.For example:In Malawi, inequitable access to arable land, combined with insecure land tenure, unsustainable farming practices, and intense competition for resources have resulted in chronically low incomes and persistent poverty. To address these challenges, the Community Based Rural Land Development Project was launched in 2004 to generate greater opportunities for the poorest of the Malawi’s rural poor. By 2010, 15,000 poor families had access to land. Gross margins per hectare had increased ten-fold for hybrid maize from the pre-location phase.In Brazil, under the Land-Based Poverty Alleviation Project families formed groups that negotiated directly with willing sellers to purchase suitable properties. They then obtained financing and technical assistance to establish themselves on or near the land and to improve the productivity of the acquired properties. Thanks to the project, more than 55,000 poor rural families gained access to about 1.2 million hectares of land.In Bosnia and Herzegovina, systems for the registration of property rights had been in disarray since World War II and made worse following the 1992-1995 war. Informal development of large areas occurred because of the difficulty in getting permission to build or occupy property. It was very difficult to complete basic real estate transactions, develop property or to borrow money based on property as collateral. The World Bank-financed Land Registration Project contributed to a significant reduction of backlogs in property registration and more efficient customer service in many courts. Now 80 percent of all transactions are resolved in five days or less and mortgages are registered within a day in 16 of the 47 courts, including Sarajevo.Grow AfricaThe World Bank is an active participant in Grow Africa, which is a partnership platform to accelerate investments for sustainable and inclusive growth in African agriculture, coordinated by the African Union, New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), and the World Economic Forum, under the umbrella of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP). The first Grow Africa Investment Forum was held in Addis Ababa in May 2012. It attracted 270 top-level leaders from global, regional, and national businesses, African and other governments, international organizations, and civil society and farmers’ organizations. A total of 116 companies participated, including 49 African and 47 multinational companies plus 20 from other regions, such as Asia and the Middle-East. More than 60 companies signed letters of intent reflecting intended private investments of US$4 billion in African agriculture. This number reflects both the strong interest of the private sector to invest in African agriculture, as well as to do so in a sustainable and inclusive way supported by Grow Africa.Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land More recently, the World Bank Group has actively supported preparation and endorsement (May 2012) by the Committee on Food Security (CFS) of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (“the VGs”). The Bank is actively engaged with multiple partners (UN agencies, bilateral donors, civil society organizations) in supporting the implementation of the VGs at the country level through wide-spread dissemination, capacity building, financial support to policies and projects that enhance the governance of land tenure according to these guidelines. The World Bank Group considers these VGs as a major international instrument to guide specific policy reforms, since it provided an agreed framework for action, broad participation, and monitoring outcomes.Recognizing the increasing interest in farmland, and the potential associated risks, the World Bank is working with partners to “retrofit” principles of responsible agricultural investment to 40 agribusiness investments to determine how application of the principles would have impacted the results.The Principles for Responsible Agro-Investment (PRAI)In 2010, the United Nations and the G20 asked the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and the World Bank - in consultation with a broad range of stakeholders - to generate principles that could be used by both foreign and local investors and to help governments address the needs of vulnerable groups, especially small farmers. The PRAI process is led by the Committee on Food Security, and global consultations on the principles are continuing.The Bank is working with governments and stakeholders through a number of concrete investment projects to operationally translate the Principles of Responsible of Agro-Investments and the Voluntary Guidelines into concrete sustainable and inclusive public-private partnership models which we expect will have significant positive effects on how governments facilitate private sector investments and how the private sector structures them. Grow Africa represents an African-owned, representative platform to share and discuss these operational models. Show Less -

April 25, 2009—As the global recession threatens to hamstring the pace of poverty reduction everywhere, many countries—both rich and poor—hope to cushion the blow through a fiscal stimulus.Some of the... Show More + pressing questions that governments are trying to grapple with include the size of such stimulus packages, the types of spending they should consist of, and the channels through which they might work most efficiently to stimulate the economy.A stimulus that favors the poor favors the whole economyMartin Ravallion, Director of the World Bank’s Development Research Group, and an expert on global poverty, emphasizes that there are many reasons why a stimulus that favors poorer people is more likely to have a stronger impact than one that does not.“There’s an obvious ethical reason why a stimulus should favor poor people, but there’s also a macroeconomic rationale,” said Ravallion, “Poor people, who are typically more constrained by a lack of credit, are much more likely to quickly consume or invest extra cash that becomes available through some form of stimulus.”Historically, rich countries have taken countercyclical actions to stabilize their economies in times of economic stress through direct taxes and committed social spending.“Developing countries need to be able to act countercyclically too,” observed Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, Germany’s Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, during a recently-aired BBC World debate, “Global Recession: A Developing World Emergency.”“If there’s one thing that should not be missed during this crisis, it’s the opportunity to create pro-poor stabilizers in developing countries, similar to the automatic social safety nets that rich countries already have in place,” said Ravallion.Rich countries can also look to developing countries—which have had more experience with disasters of various kinds, from famines and floods to financial crises—for ideas on how best to protect the poor.Lessons from developing countriesGovernments in developing countries have experimented with a wide range of social protection programs, including those that protect poor people from financial crises. The ways in which their public budgets have been programmed provide valuable lessons that could be useful to both rich and poor countries today.“Some of the best social protection programs in the world have emerged during times of macroeconomic stress, and some of the worst,” said Ravallion, “It is difficult—but critical—to strike a balance between immediate relief and long-term poverty reduction.”Increasingly, both rich and poor countries’ welfare reform efforts have tried to highlight the notion of “co-responsibility”—helping people to escape poverty now while also taking actions that reduce dependency on welfare in the long run."We know a lot more than we did twenty years ago about what works and what doesn’t," Ravallion said, “The ideal social safety net does not just protect the poor in times of need, but is also an integral part of the process of development.”Two types of complementary programs that provide good examples of such incentives—also important in designing a pro-poor stimulus—are targeted cash transfers and relief work schemes. When these programs are designed effectively, they can go a long way toward stabilizing an economy in a manner that favors poor people.Ravallion’s paper, “Bailing out the World’s Poorest,” reviews the arguments and evidence on these programs.Smart transfers: cash for actions that help the next generation escape poverty“Getting money into the hands of poor people and doing this in an effective and transparent way is very important,” said Ariel Fiszbein, Chief Economist for Human Development at the World Bank, “It’s also imperative to make sure that the delivery of basic services is sustained and doesn’t suffer because of the crisis.”Conditional cash transfers (on which the World Bank recently published a detailed policy research report) are programs that give cash directly to poor people, who in turn agree to an action such as enrolling girls in school or taking babies to health clinics regularly.Early influential examples of such programs—which have been multiplying around the world at a rapid rate—include Bangladesh’s Food-for-Education, Mexico’s Progresa/Oportunidades, and Brazil’s Bolsa Escola.While conditional cash transfers are designed to help reduce poverty in the long run, they can also be used to step up assistance to poor people during times of crisis.For example, Mexico was able to tackle the welfare effects of the food crisis of 2008 through a one-time top-up payment to Oportunidades participants. And in Indonesia, the Jaring Pengamanan Sosial program reduced school dropout rates among beneficiaries during the 1998 financial crisis.Challenges in implementation abound, including setting the eligibility criteria in practice, resource constraints, elite capture at the local level, and unresponsiveness to changes in people’s needs.Timely relief work for those that need itThe Employment Guarantee Scheme introduced in the 1970s in the state of Maharashtra, India, is an example of a relief work or workfare scheme that aims to support poor people in rural areas by providing them with unskilled manual labor at low wages on demand. Relief work is now on offer throughout India through the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.Workfare schemes often succeed in one critical area where conditional cash transfers lag. Provided they are well designed, they can adjust flexibly to the need for assistance.“Like conditional cash transfers, a good workfare scheme relies on built-in incentives,” Ravallion explained. “Anybody who has a better option than unskilled manual work will take it, and when those on workfare find better work as the economy recovers they naturally move out of the scheme, thus ensuring that the help is received by those who need it most, while preserving incentives for escaping poverty by other means.”Argentina’s Trabajar program illustrates the potential for a new wave of such schemes that stress the importance of asset creation. Work created through the program is typically useful work that would not otherwise be done in poor neighborhoods for lack of finance.Key design features for such a scheme are that the assets created should be of lasting value, preference should be given to community-initiated projects in poor areas, the wage rate should not be higher than the market rate for similar work and anyone who needs work should be confident they can get it in a reasonably time.A key role for social protection“With a combination of well-designed and implemented conditional transfers and relief work schemes it is possible to protect a significant number of poor people in a crisis, without damaging their longer-term prospects of escaping poverty,” Ravallion said.Robust social protection policies require a combination of relief work with transfers in cash or food targeted to specific groups who cannot work due to physical incapacity (including poor nutritional status, with the number of chronically hungry people set to cross 1 billion in 2009) or who should not be taken out of other activities such as school.“A world that doesn’t learn from history is condemned to repeat it. While the recent G-20 meeting focused on financial issues, we need to learn from the history of past crises, when governments squeezed for cash, cut into social programs with often devastating impacts on the poor,” said World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick.In April 2009, Zoellick announced the institution’s intent to triple support to social protection in fiscal year 2010. Show Less -